Both were silent for a few seconds before the First Sage looked back down at Jake. “Now, we will have to address this Record Fragment before you return to your time. I cannot be brought along while in this form where I possess consciousness... so allow me to give you a final gift.”
The First Sage leaned back in the chair as he continued. “The first thing you gained today were Records from the Malefic Viper. The second thing you gained were the Records simply waiting to be unlocked within yourself. So allow for this final part to be a gift of Records from me. Assuming you wish to accept them, of course.”
Jake enthusiastically nodded, definitely not going to say no to something given directly by the First Sage... though he kind of hoped getting said gift wouldn’t require another training lesson where he died nearly a thousand times.
“Then allow me to leave you with something for your future. Today, you unlocked the potential of your soul, so I shall give you something to further explore and expand what you can do with it... including a method to address that little soul injury of yours.”
Jake perked up when he heard that, only growing more eager to see what the First Sage was about to leave him. Fixing Palete was naturally something Jake very much wanted to do, and if the First Sage had a method of doing that, Jake definitely wasn’t going to reject it.
“I’m glad you seem keen... then let this be our goodbye. It was a pleasant, though surprising, encounter,” the First Sage smiled. His body slowly began to glow as Jake felt his Records surge, a torrent of power erupting from the old man’s body that just made Jake even more sure he really didn’t want to make the old man an enemy no matter how many eras he had been dead.
“Also... when you see Vilas, will you tell him something for me?” the First Sage spoke as his body was filled with power and broke down as his skin cracked.
Jake nodded, prompting the old man to continue.
“Please tell him that I’m proud of him. Proud of what he’s become. And thank you, Jake, for being his friend. Having something like that for someone like him is more valuable than you can even begin to imagine.”
With those words, the body of the First Sage split apart. His skin peeled entirely off and turned into pages of paper, the rest of his body quickly following suit as hundreds of glowing pages flew into the air and began swirling before quickly beginning to regather on the table as the voice of the First Sage echoed with a final message. “I shall leave you with Records of my Legacy... but perhaps do consider keeping what you learn from it to yourself, as the system tends to dislike spreading Forbidden Knowledge. I wish you fortune on your Path, Jake Thayne, and I look forward to seeing what you will become.”
In a final flash of energy and light, the First Sage’s Record Fragment turned back into the form of a book. There was no grand explosion or shockwave when it was complete, but that didn’t mean the book felt any weaker. In fact, it felt pretty damn intimidating to even try opening.
Jake looked at the book but didn’t immediately reach for it as he bowed toward it instead. “Thanks for everything.”
He knew he wouldn’t have time to delve into what the First Sage had left him as the vision was rapidly coming to an end. The world created by the First Sage’s Records had already been broken when the First Sage turned himself into the Record Fragment in Jake’s Soulspace, and the only reason why this encounter in the Soulspace had even lasted as long as it did was due to the interference of the First Sage. Which is to say he had not only battled Jake while teaching him, but also stabilized Jake’s Path of the Heretic-Chosen vision, allowing it to last until Jake was done learning.
He really is... was... an absolute monster.
Considering that the vision was coming to an end imminently, Jake exited his Soulspace, knowing that the book would remain as it was. It didn’t even have any lingering intent or anything like that from the First Sage, and Jake knew intuitively that it was made of Records where its Origin had died a long, long time ago.
Jake barely had time to open his eyes as his vision was momentarily filled with white, the world of the vision entirely void of anything as the First Sage was no more. In the very next moment, Jake found himself back in his laboratory in Haven, not even a full second having passed in Realtime since he used Path of the Heretic-Chosen.
That being the case, this had no doubt been the most efficient second Jake had ever spent in his life so far. Looking back, he had really been dumb those moments during the vision where Jake had been afraid he wouldn’t really get much out of it because oh boy, had he been wrong. So, so wrong.
The first thing he had gained was the massive upgrade to Sagacity of the Malefic Viper. It wasn’t just an upgrade from legendary to mythical, but it had even skipped that middle step of top-tier legendary most of his other Legacy of the Malefic Viper skills were sitting at.
Something he hadn’t even considered – probably because he had skipped over the notifications to focus on the First Sage quicker after knocking himself out – was the experience gained from getting that upgrade. This only hammered home further how good of an investment those uses of Path of the Heretic-Chosen had been, as he’d even gotten quite a few levels under his belt.
’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 301 - Stat points allocated, +35 Free Points
…
’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 309 - Stat points allocated, +35 Free Points
’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 302 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points
…
’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 305 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points
To be more exact, Jake had gained 9 levels in his profession from that one skill upgrade. It was likely so extreme because Jake had taken it straight to mythical, but he also had a feeling the First Sage had something to do with it. Experience gained and Records were closely related, and the mere fact the upgrade had happened with the help of the First Sage had to play a role. At least Jake felt like it should count for something.
Closing down the system messages, Jake looked around the laboratory for a bit, feeling as if he’d been gone for such a long time despite the vision not actually lasting that long compared to the random adventures Jake usually went on.
Sighing, Jake stood up and went back up to the lodge. He felt an odd mixture of being fully refreshed yet also mentally tired, as he needed a bit to himself to digest everything that had just gone down. He also had to get back into his Soulspace to check out the book, but he purposefully delayed that a little for him to be fully calm and back in the right mind.
Back up in the lodge, Jake went out the door and over to the small pond. He sat down at the edge of it cross-legged and looked at the water for a while, feeling a bit guilty about scaring off the small eels within. After several minutes, Jake decided to open his status menu, only for him to instantly close it again and take out his void lolipop for a good lick before immediately opening the menu back up.
It’s been a while since I properly went over everything, hasn’t it? Jake asked himself as he checked out his full status for the first time since shortly after Nevermore. A lot of time had passed since then, with Jake experiencing quite a few things, which had naturally also led to its fair share of levels, skill upgrades, and new skills.
Seeing as he was checking out the status properly, Jake compared it to right after Nevermore to better see in which areas he had progressed the most. He did make one change, though, also focusing on how much his resource pools had grown.
Status
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Name: Jake Thayne
Race: [Human (C) – 278 --> 305]
Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge – 289 --> 302]
Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper – 267 --> 309]
Health Points (HP): 182,060/182,060 --> 295,950/295,950
Mana Points (MP): 401,321/411,484 --> 518,125/518,125
Stamina: 205,651/212,790 --> 294,987/294,987
Stats
Strength: 26170 --> 32997
Agility: 34616 --> 43130
Endurance: 21279 --> 23599
Vitality: 18206 --> 23676
Toughness: 14488 --> 20084
Wisdom: 26335 --> 33160
Intelligence: 22425 --> 26756
Perception: 53661 --> 57278
Willpower: 23267 --> 29986
Free points: 0
Titles: [Forerunner of the New World], [Bloodline Patriarch], [Holder of a Primordial’s True Blessing], [Dungeoneer XV], [Dungeon Pioneer VI], [Prodigious Slayer of the Mighty], [Kingslayer], [Nobility: Duke] , [Progenitor of the 93rd Universe], [Prodigious Arcanist], [Perfect Evolution (D-grade)], [Premier Treasure Hunter], [Myth Originator], [Progenitor of Myriad Paths], [Mythical Prodigy], [Perfect Evolution (C-grade)], [Nevermore Challenger All-star], [Peerless Conquerer of Nevermore]
Class Skills : [Superior Stealth Attack (Rare)], [Splitting Arcane Arrow Rain (Epic)], [Archery of Expanding Horizons (Epic)], [Bestial Hunter’s Tracking (Epic)], [Piercing Cursed Arcane Fang (Epic)], [Avaricious Arcane Hunter’s Arrows (Epic)], [Arcane Powershot (Ancient)], [Arcane Awakening (Ancient)], [One Step, Thousand Miles (Ancient)], [Fangs of Man (Ancient)], [Horizon-chasing Big Game Arcane Hunter (Ancient)], [Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon (Ancient)], [Mark of the Horizon-Chasing Arcane Hunter (Ancient)], [Penetrating Arcane Arrow of Horizon’s Edge (Ancient)], [Relentness Hunt of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter (Legendary)], [Arcane Supremacy (Legendary)], [Unseen Hunter Arcane Hunter (Legendary)], [Lone Hunter of Horizon’s Edge (Legendary)], [Protean Arrow of Eternal Horizons (Legendary)], [Timeless Focus of the Apex Hunter (Legendary)] , [Eternal Shadow of the Primal Hunter (Mythical)], [Primal Gaze of the Apex Hunter (Mythical)], [Moment of the Primal Hunter (Mythical)]
Profession Skills : [Path of the Heretic-Chosen (Unique)], [Grimoire of the Heretic-Chosen (Unique)], [Alchemist’s Purification (Inferior)], [Alchemical Flame (Common)], [Brew Potion (Uncommon)], [Craft Elixir (Rare)], [Concoct Poison (Rare)], [Soul Ritualism of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist (Ancient)], [Malefic Viper’s Poison (Ancient)], [Arcane Curse Manifestation (Ancient)], [Blood of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Sense of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Wings of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)] , [Touch of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Legacy Teachings of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist (Legendary)], [Palate of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [ Pride of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Scales of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)] , [Fangs of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Core Manipulation of the Primal Hunter (Legendary)], [Divine Bargain of the Malefic Viper (Mythical)] , [Sagacity of the Malefic Viper (Mythical)]
Blessing: [True Blessing of the Malefic Viper (Blessing - True)]
Race Skills: [Endless Tongues of the Myriad Races (Unique)], [Legacy of Man (Unique)], [Wisdom of the Hunter (Unique)], [Identify (Rare)], [Serene Soul Meditation (Epic)], [Anomalous Arcane Soul (Mythical)] , [Shroud of the Primordial (Divine)]
Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Primal Hunter (Bloodline Ability - Unique)]
--
Jake read through the long status – one that hadn’t really grown in length that much since the last time, as he’d only gotten one entirely new skill. Then again, he’d only had two skill selections as he’d gotten just under thirty levels, with one of them granting him a skill that merged with another to form Divine Bargain of the Malefic Viper.
Looking at it, Jake had also gained more levels in his profession than his class by a fair margin, with his First Sage encounter only increasing the disparity in growth. Looking at just how many profession levels he had gotten over such a short amount of time, it was honestly absurd. Especially when one considers Jake had spent a significant amount of this period suffering from severe soul damage.
He’d gained 42 levels in what, a couple of years? It was bonkers under any kind of usual circumstances and really showed that whatever had gone down during this time truly was the opposite of usual circumstances.
He had been a good little Chosen and helped his Patron lure in and slay Yip of Yore, immediately followed that up by invading Ell’Hakan’s planet and killing him, to now having this meeting with the First Sage. Calling this period eventful would be an understatement.
These many levels had naturally resulted in quite a few stats gained across the board, especially in the stats where he’d upgraded a Malefic Viper Legacy skill. Besides that, the stats his profession gave to had naturally grown the most, though Perception and a few other physical stats had followed along well.
Regarding Free Points, Jake still put them all into Agility and Strength with an even split between the two. Seeing as Jake was very much a hybrid kind of fighter who used both magic and his physical abilities, he was afraid of his Agility and Strength falling behind others, and so far, he hadn’t been disappointed with this choice of Free Point investment... though it did hurt a bit not to see his Perception increase by as much as it could.
At least he still had the void lollipop of infinite Perception to get at least a few bonus stats to Perception, constantly keeping his elixir quota filled. He did begin to consider if maybe it was time to go full Perception again soon, though...
Moving on. Looking at his three resource pools, Jake was happy by how much the three of them had all grown, especially his health points and stamina that’d gotten that sweet 25% bonus from Anomalous Arcane Soul.
Having larger resource pools didn’t mean Jake was automatically stronger, but it did increase his longevity in battle significantly. Jake also felt that with his recent upgrade to his soul, he would be able to handle using his boosting skill even more, so having more resources to burn through was definitely a boon.
His health points increasing so much also made Jake consider certain possibilities... ones he had considered for a while when thinking about which direction he wanted to take his Blood of the Malefic Viper upgrade, as that and Fangs of the Malefic Viper still needed to get upgraded as the last two Malefic Viper Legacy skills.
Speaking of skill upgrades...
Jake made sure to highlight all the skills that had changed since last he checked, and while not overly many skills had upgraded or improved, all of the improvements had been pretty huge. Jake had upgraded three more skills to mythical rarity, with the rest all getting upgraded to legendary – a feat made a bit less impressive by the fact the Malefic Viper Legacy skills had unchanged rarities. In total, he’d gained four mythical skills with Divine Bargain being formed, the rarity really beginning to feel a lot more “normal” to Jake now.
In his class, he had also gained some great upgrades, and looking at them, they were all related to Jake’s fight with Ell’Hakan, either from happening during the fight or because Jake upgraded the skill to prepare for the fight. Well, alright, Lone Hunter had come from a skill selection, but Jake didn’t count that as an upgrade, and he had used it during his fight with Ell’Hakan, so it still counted.
Finally, for the very first time, Jake had added a skill to his race skills section. Every other skill there had been granted in some way or another, but this time around, Jake had been the one who’d made it so that it was part of his race.
He did have some questions about what it meant for the skill to be a race skill now rather than a profession one, and he would be sure to ask Villy about that later as they would definitely have an in-depth talk very soon... but before that, Jake naturally had to go look at one last thing.
It would be impolite to show up to a meeting with Villy without even knowing what the final gift he’d been given by the First Sage was all about, right? Sure, the First Sage had said Jake should reconsider if he wanted to share anything he learned, but Jake still had to know if it was something he wanted to discuss despite the old man’s words.
Closing down his status menu, happy with his recent growth, Jake shut his eyes as he reentered his Soulspace once more.
Manifesting his body within, Jake couldn’t help but smile as everything came into view. The seemingly infinite forest stretched further than he could see, and Jake knew that should he travel in any direction, the world would simply expand to accommodate him. He walked a Path where he pursued an endlessly expanding horizon, so how could he possibly reach the end of his own Soulspace?
Compared to before, Jake felt way more at home within his own Soulspace, and from the looks of it, the Eternal Shadow was also chilling, having found its own nice little hiding spot.
Turning his attention to the reason why he’d entered the Soulspace, Jake appeared in front of the table with the book still on it. With a thought, Jake chose to construct a wooden building around the book to house it, making it into a small library of sorts.
When he was satisfied, Jake sat down in front of the book and really studied it. The cover was off-white with a tinge of yellow that old white objects tended to get. There was still no title on the cover, but Jake felt like this had more to do with Jake not knowing what the title should be than anything else.
With a careful approach, Jake reached out and slowly opened the book. The moment he did, a faint light was emitted and entered his body as a bit of knowledge from the bibliography of the tome was given for free as an introduction it seemed.
Immediately, he knew that fully studying this book wouldn’t be a quick endeavor, and he was far from qualified to understand all of it in his current state. Despite it only looking to be a few hundred pages, the book contained far more than that, with it being filled with actual writing mixed with energy patterns for Jake to analyze and unlock, seals he could unseal by understanding prior sections serving as small tests, and many more things Jake had yet to uncover.
Unable to stop himself, Jake turned to the first page, where he was instantly met with his first “test.”
However, it proved to only require Jake to infuse a bit of his energy, proving his soul was powerful enough to unlock the first chapter. As the words appeared on the page, Jake began reading, and he’d barely gotten a single paragraph down before his eyes opened wide as he realized what the book was truly about.
It was all about how to use and upgrade one of the Legacy skills created by the First Sage... and if he understood what he read correctly, this was a massive fucking bombshell of knowledge...
Because, unknowingly, Jake already had one of the First Sage’s Legacy skills.